THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS...

“It is right to endure with resignation what the gods send, and to face one's enemies with courage.” - Pericles

The New What’s Going on Blog has sent as its theme this week “The Days we Stayed Apart”, a reflection on how the COVID pandemic affected us. For me personally this was a difficult time as death due to COVID claimed a victim within my own family. However, I had to find the strength to hold on and deal with life and all its vicissitudes. Resignation, tolerance, moderation, self-control, assisting others, coping with numerous restrictions and delving into what is the purpose of life, are all topics that I think of when I remember that dark time. Here is my poem:

This, Too, Shall Pass…

This fleeting moment
Of our time in the sun,
This, too, shall pass –
Remember; for the happy man shall be made sad,
And the sad man made happy.

This mortal coil,
All of our suffering,
This, too, shall pass –
Remember; for the pain shall be made joy,
And the joyful made melancholy.

This grand love,
Our all-consuming passion,
This, too, shall pass –
Remember; for the flame shall be made ash,
And the dust made into fire.

This glorious fame,
The greatness, this prestige,
This, too, shall pass –
Remember; for the renowned shall be made unknown,
And the obscure will be celebrated.

All is fleeting, all is vain;
Life, youth, love, beauty,
Riches, luxury, your bed of roses;
These, too, shall all pass –
Remember; for the last will be first,
And the first will be last…

The poem is set to music, and you can find all my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel or listen to it on YouTube, Spotify,  Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.

Please note that there is delay between my uploading the music and your being able to access it. YouTube is generally the fastest to release the song.

ON TOLERANCE

“The highest result of education is tolerance.” - Helen Keller

On this planet we are blessed with a diversity that has ensured the survival of life in one form or another for millennia upon millennia. It is this diversity that allows evolution and survival. It is this diversity that ensures adaptation to adverse environments. There is no surer way to die out as a species than to be uniform and unchangeable. Rigidity and inflexibility, in a biological sense, will sooner or later cause extinction.

Human beings have managed over the ages of life on planet earth to reach a position of domination over all of the other life forms, such that the fate of all other species on this planet depends on our whims and fancies, our activities and behaviour. We pride ourselves on being rational, thinking creatures and yet we destroy our planet systematically, wipe out thousands of species of living things each year. As if that weren’t enough, internecine hostility within our own species, threatens humanity itself on many fronts.

Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. Tolerance is harmony in difference. We view tolerance as a way of thinking and feeling (most importantly though, of acting) that gives us peace in our individuality, respect for those unlike us, the wisdom to discern humane values and the courage to act upon them. An adoption of tolerance by a diverse community equips its members with skills necessary to live together peacefully.

Ethnic conflicts, human rights violations, intolerance, nationalism and racism are, together with low environmental awareness, main threats to stability of the present world. Globalisation and growing multiculturalism in nation states bring such issues to the attention of many policy makers as well as impacting on the life of ordinary people. Teachers may play a very progressive role in the process of combating intolerance and racism and can articulate the bottom-up policies for social change. Individuals and community groups can foster an attitude of tolerance – tolerance depends on all of us for its active implementation.

tolerance |ˈtäl(ə)rəns| noun

1 the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with : the tolerance of corruption | an advocate of religious tolerance.

• the capacity to endure continued subjection to something, esp. a drug, transplant, antigen, or environmental conditions, without adverse reaction : the desert camel shows the greatest tolerance to dehydration | species were grouped according to pollution tolerance | various species of diatoms display different tolerances to acid.

• diminution in the body's response to a drug after continued use.

2 an allowable amount of variation of a specified quantity, esp. in the dimensions of a machine or part : 250 parts in his cars were made to tolerances of one thousandth of an inch.

ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting the action of bearing hardship, or the ability to bear pain and hardship): via Old French from Latin tolerantia, from tolerare.

MOVIE MONDAY - THAT'S WHAT I AM

“Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.” - Andy Rooney

We watched a delightful film at the weekend, which surprised us pleasantly as we were expecting something a little different. It was the 2011 Mike Pavone film “That’s What I Am”, starring Ed Harris, Chase Ellison, Molly Parker, Alexander Walters and Amy Madigan. It is a coming-of-age story set in 1965 that follows 12-year-old Andy Nichol (Chase Ellison), a bright student who, like most kids his age, will do anything to avoid conflict for fear of suffering overwhelming ridicule and punishment from his junior high school peers. His gifted teacher, Mr Simon (Ed Harris), will allow Andy to grow and realise his potential through the difficult times.

The screenplay was written by the director and it has a genuineness about it, that which comes from relating personal experiences. It may be based on autobiographical details, which is also aided by the first person narrative that is used throughout the film as though a novel is being read – this in fact may be the only obvious fault of the film. Otherwise this was an engaging and winsome movie that was extremely watchable and made several points about tolerance, peaceful coexistence and realising one’s potential through doing what comes naturally and utilising one’s own talents.

The plot centres on Andy, a cool young kid who is paired off with “Big G” (Alexander Walters), a social outcast, to do a project for class. Although this seems to be a mismatch, Mr Simon (Ed Harris), their charismatic teacher can see the potential of both kids and is banking on both of them developing their characters positively through the interaction. We expected the film to develop the theme of the unlikely friendship, but this is only used to focus on other issues in the 1960s. Many of these issues are accepted today as norms but back then they were new, and hence fearful. The movie mixes humour with the dark themes, and there are some poignant twists that make one’s eye moisten.

The acting is very good all round, and Ed Harris is excellent in what is after all a supporting role. The schoolkids are what make the film and all of these young actors do a great job. Also well acted are the roles of the school principal and the parents of the children. The music, costumes, sets and cinematography are all great and they support the action with a real, believable window into the 1960s.

We enjoyed this movie a lot and would recommend it to everyone who wishes to relax and enjoy a film that makes a powerful statement about growing up and making the world a better place through tolerance, compassion and utilisation of one’s talents and abilities. It is akin to the “Wonder Years” and if you enjoyed that, you will certainly enjoy this movie as well.

MY HUMAN FAMILY

“Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.” - RobertGreen Ingersoll

I was amazed today while talking to an acquaintance to hear him spout forth some extremely vituperative racist comments while discussing the Middle East. This fellow, whom I know through another mutual acquaintance, had up until yesterday seemed rather pleasant and reasonable, but once this topic was broached, his prejudice coloured his every word and it was immediately obvious that his opinion was very strong, his facts minimal. My feelings were of immediate revulsion and the conversation stopped rather abruptly as he got on his soapbox and started lecturing me about the inherent inferiority of some people and the superiority of others…

Experience has shown me that trying to reason with such people is an absolute waste of time as logic, reason and facts are not heeded by them. Arnold H. Glasow states with good reason: “The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion.” Not that any discussion was even allowed by my interlocutor. He ploughed on regardless, not interested in what my thoughts were, or even pausing to allow me to attempt to answer some of his questions, which proved to be rhetorical. A Hebrew proverb states: “Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence”, and his vehemence attested to this. I was in the fortunate situation of being able to make up my mind about him very quickly after this and he has been shed from my circle of contacts. His kind generates a feeling of distaste and his company will from now on be shunned.

Growing up in Australia in the 1970s as person of non-Anglosaxon background, I was able to experience the full brunt of prejudice in my school years. Children are often the cruellest adherents of such a mindset and of course the feeling of belonging to a group, the concept of “us and them” is very strongly ingrained in their mind. These were the days before multiculturalism, and being in a small country town where I was the only “different” one in the class made me an easy target. I learnt the hard way to defend myself, my heritage and my origins. I proved with deeds not words that I was equal or superior to my peers and over time, I was slowly accepted by them. However, it was not an easy journey and the most deplorable  thing on reflection was that the attitude of my schoolmates was also shared by some of my teachers. Not openly, of course, but on analysis it is apparent that their behaviour at the time could only have been motivated by such discrimination.

Often, of course, a neutral attitude and a failure to speak out, to raise one’s voice in opposition is as bad as being openly prejudiced, or even worse. At least if I encounter a racist who makes his views perfectly obvious, it is preferable to me than someone who says nothing leaving me in doubt as to where his allegiances lie. Martin Niemöller has to say the following about the matter: “In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they went after the homosexuals and infirm, and I did not stand up, because I was neither. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Finally they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up for me.”

All of us on this earth are all connected to each other by our humanity. There are more things that join us than things that separate us. Whether a Pacific Islander on some remote atoll or a banker in New York City, a housewife in India or a career woman in Germany, a Chinese government official or an African village dweller, a Saudi Arabian sheikh or a homeless Australian living in the streets of Sydney, all of us share too many things to allow religion, nationality, political allegiance, language, status or wealth to act as barriers. We all belong to the human family and if any two people from any place on earth are left on a desert island together they will discover innumerable commonalities as they try to cope with the basics of survival and peaceful coexistence.

My family is the human family, my home is the planet earth, my religion is respect and tolerance for all and my politics are coloured by social equity, racial equality and regard for all my fellow humans. My human family is one composed of billions of individuals, all of us different and varied, but so very similar to one another at the same time. We all have the same hopes and dreams and aspirations. Similar things give us pleasure and pain. We laugh and cry and experience the same range of other emotions as the other. William Allen White encapsulates all of this so aptly: “If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own… how much kinder, how much gentler he would be.”

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY 2013

“To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” - Nelson Mandela
 

The UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950, to ensure awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. The UN General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, France, on the December 10, 1948.
 

In 2013, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights marks 20 years since its establishment. The United Nations General Assembly created the mandate of High Commissioner for the promotion and protection of all human rights in December 1993. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference in 2003, marked the beginning of a renewed effort in the protection and promotion of human rights and is regarded as one of the most significant human rights documents of the past quarter century.
 

Many events on this commemoration day aim to educate people, especially children and teenagers, on their human rights and the importance of upholding these in their own communities and further afield. The day is also popular for organising protests to alert people of circumstances in parts of the world where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not recognised or respected, or where the upholding of these rights is not considered to be important. Cultural events are also organised to celebrate human rights through music, dance, drama or fine art.
 

This is a good day for writing letters of support, hope, inspiration and expressing opinions about human rights. It is timely to think of those who live in countries and under regimes where they are not permitted to freely express their opinions. Several organisations around the world are active in promoting human rights and giving these people unable to claim their rights a voice for doing so, albeit indirectly.
 

Nelson Mandela’s death recently reminded people all over the world of the struggle in South Africa where the battle for equality, and against racism, has resulted in a situation where new hope may flourish in a reinvented country. It is also timely to remember many other African countries where huge social and economic problems deny people may of the rights that in Western countries take for granted. The rights of women, people with disabilities, homosexuals and those belonging to religious minorities are also human rights and very often these individuals may be under multiple attacks every single day of their lives.

VALE, NELSON MANDELA

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” - Nelson Mandela
 

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who was imprisoned and then became a politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative election.
 

His government focussed on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999.
 

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was one of the world’s most revered statesmen after preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years. He had rarely been seen in public since officially retiring in 2004. He made his last public appearance in 2010, at the football World Cup in South Africa. Mandela had been receiving intensive medical care at home for a lung infection after spending three months in hospital.
 

Mandela was an inspiration not only for the people of South Africa but for everyone around the world who believed in race equality, freedom and fair treatment of all people. His life was a shining example of how a single individual can change the course of history and positively affect the lives of millions. A sad day for the world, but also a day for celebrating his many achievements.
 

Many South Africans, who love Nelson Mandela like a father, say that their grief was tinged with uncertainty, and some fear over what their future holds without him.

Vale, Nelson Mandela

MOVIE MONDAY - DEDEMIN INSANLARI

“You know, those of us who leave our homes in the morning and expect to find them there when we go back – it’s hard for us to understand what the experience of a refugee might be like.” - Naomi Shihab Nye
 
We watched an excellent Turkish film at the weekend, a good production from the Ay Yapim company, which also produces many of the very good contemporary Turkish TV series. It was the 2011 Çagan Irmak film “Dedemin Insanlari”  (My Grandfather’s People), starring Çetin Tekindor, Yigit Özsener, Gökçe Bahadir, Sacide Tasaner, Hümeyra, Durukan Çelikkaya and Eirini Inglesi. The director also wrote the screenplay of this partly autobiographical film, which looks back at the history of his own family and the way they settled in Western Turkey after leaving Crete, Greece, in the 1920s.
 
A little bit of the historical context that is relevant to the movie will help the viewer, although it is not essential to be aware of it in order to appreciate the great story or the wonderful acting. After the first World War, Greece and Turkey were involved in a bitter conflict, which ended with the massacre of many people on both sides and decision to exchange populations. Greeks who had been living for generations on the Western coast of Turkey were sent to Greece and Turks living in Greece were sent to Turkey. Millions of people were involved and their stories are dramatic and tragic in many cases. The survivors who were forced to settle in new countries were seen as immigrants by the locals: The Turks who migrated to Turkey were always thought of as “Greeks”, and the Greeks who migrated to Greece were thought of as “Turks” – even though they immigrated into countries where the locals spoke the same language as them and had the same religion…
 
The plot of the movie is about a family whose grandfather came to the Western coast of Turkey from Crete. The family managed to settle in Turkey successfully and the majority of the film is set in the 1970s, where the grandfather is a shop owner, his son-in-law is assistant mayor and his young grandson is a cheeky, spoilt child who nevertheless does well at school.
 
The whole family has had to deal with prejudice from the locals who view them as interlopers and the young grandson is reacting violently in the same prejudiced way to a new wave of new immigrants into their neighbourhood, having become more local than the locals himself. The conflict that develops between grandfather and grandson, despite their great love for each other is explored beautifully by the movie. Ultimately, it is a coming of age movie where the grandson’s relationship with his grandfather forms the centrepiece of the movie, which nevertheless explores complex issues around the topics of nationality, ideology, the sense of belonging, community, prejudice, intolerance and the futility of war.
 
The acting is exemplary with amazing performances by all of the cast. Both Grandfater (Çetin Tekindor) and grandson (Durukan Çelikkaya) are outstanding and are the foundation of the film. Nevertheless they are supported admirably by every single other member of the cast. The director has done a marvellous job with both the sensitive screenplay and restrained direction, which highlights the plight of displaced people, but also acknowledges his own personal family history. The flash-backs and flash-forwards are done extremely well and with great effect, being central to the story.
 
There is a wonderful sense of humanity in this film. As a Greek myself, and as one whose father’s family was one of those that had to come to Greece from the Western coast of Turkey in the 1920s, this film touched a sensitive nerve with me. I saw this film with the same eyes that the Turks involved in the story did, but viewed from the “other side” of the Aegean Sea. The sea that separates and joins Greeks and Turks, the sea that serves as the means of division and union. The sea that carries a common history, a shared culture and dissolves in it the same dreams and aspirations.
 
We enjoyed very much this wonderful, touching and poignant film, which is sensitive to the point of view of both sides of Aegean Sea. Although it was a two-hour long movie, we lost track of the time and became thoroughly engaged in it. The film has a good dose of drama in it, but it is relieved by touches of humour. The dialogues are lively, the acting and direction is great, the music well chosen and apt. Great film, available on DVD, see it!

9/11 A SAD ANNIVERSARY

“Terrorism has once again shown it is prepared deliberately to stop at nothing in creating human victims. An end must be put to this. As never before, it is vital to unite forces of the entire world community against terror.” - Vladimir Putin
 

On September 11, 2001 the USA came under terrorist attacks, which are also called the 9/11 attacks. These were a series of airline hijackings and suicide attacks committed by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda (whose name in Arabic means “the base”) against targets in the USA, the deadliest ever terrorist attacks on American soil in U.S. history.
 

The attacks against New York City and Washington, DC, caused extensive death and destruction and triggered an enormous USA effort to combat terrorism. Some 2,750 people were killed in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 in Pennsylvania (where one of the hijacked planes crashed after the passengers attempted to retake the plane); all 19 terrorists died. Police and fire departments in New York were especially hard-hit: Hundreds had rushed to the scene of the attacks, and more than 400 police officers and firefighters were killed.
 

The worldwide distress caused by the attacks was overwhelming. Unlike the relatively isolated site of the Pearl Harbor attack of 1941, to which the September 11 events were soon compared, the World Trade Center lay at the heart of one of the world’s largest cities. Hundreds of thousands of people witnessed the attacks firsthand (many onlookers photographed events or recorded them with video cameras), and millions watched the tragedy unfold live on television. In the days that followed September 11, the footage of the attacks was replayed in the media countless times, as were the scenes of throngs of people, stricken with grief, gathering at “Ground Zero” (as the site where the towers once stood came to be commonly known) some with photos of missing loved ones, seeking some hint of their fate.
 

Despite their success in causing widespread destruction and death, the September 11 attacks were a strategic failure for al-Qaeda. Following September 11, al-Qaeda lost the best base it ever had in Afghanistan. The succession of events and the retaliatory strikes by the USA and its allies subsequent to 9/11 culminated in the death of Osama Bin Laden, several years after the attacks. On both sides, the number of innocent victims was immense.
 

As these attacks are remembered and commemorated, their significance in 21st century world history assumes a greater role, considering that terrorism is far from over and that the “war on terror” initiated by George W Bush is far from over and certainly not victorious. The recent events in Syria are but one example of how innocent civilians are victims in internecine struggles where a regime does not hesitate to use weapons that are heinous and will kill non-discriminately all in their range. This is the basis of terrorism – all manner of violent acts, which are intended to create fear and which are perpetrated for a religious, political, or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of civilians.
 

Are we ever likely to mature as a civilised species and be able to coexist peacefully with one another? Are we ever likely to respect others and tolerate differences in ideology, religion or politics? Shall we ever unite in universally condemning acts of terrorism or indeed war? Are we even close to a universal brotherhood of man, where the world is a place of peace and where nations help each individual on earth of battling with each other for reasons that are at best described as ludicrous? Current affairs and the despairing news one hears every day seems to indicate that this is still a dream, unfortunately…

THE HUMAN FAMILY

“Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn’t every war fought between men, between brothers?” - Victor Hugo
 

Remember the Arab Spring? Commentators are now bemoaning the fact that its positive activities and effects are rapidly withering into a cruel Arab Winter… As if the recent events in Egypt were not enough, the tragic situation in Syria has become a tinderbox set to explode any minute as the USA builds its presence in the Mediterranean. Other international players are becoming more or less involved, some threatening, some cautioning, and some keeping a respectful and neutral distance.
 

War is a horrible enough evil, but civil war is really the ultimate evil where former neighbours or even members of the same family suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of a dispute that demolishes every trace of humanity from the people engaged in the warfare. In these days of the 21st century, where we have ostensibly advanced to a highly civilised and technologically competent stage of development, it is disheartening to see that we still are plagued by wars of the type that is being played out in Syria currently.
 

Chemical weapons attacks are the latest offensive to deprive and destroy lives amongst the long-suffering civilian population in Syria. The collateral damage is immense in any war, but in a “dirty” war where chemical substances and terrorist tactics are used the huge number of civilian casualties becomes frightening. That we are still having to cope with issues of chemical warfare after the tragedies of the toxic gases used in World War I, is evidence enough that we are not advanced enough as a civilised species. That we have the spectre of nuclear warfare hovering over our heads after the atrocities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, is shameful. That people are still prepared to kill others for simply having a different ideology, religion or ethnicity is completely repugnant and reprehensible.
 

How can we expect to survive as a species, as a civilisation as a planet if we develop better and more effective ways of destroying each other? How can we advance all of the ideals of humanity if we are divided by issues that ultimately are unimportant in terms of survival – both personal as well as on a planetary level? What can we do in our everyday life to further a spirit of goodness, peace, respect, tolerance and love for our neighbour? Perhaps this video has the answer…

NICK VUJICIC

“For every disability you have, you are blessed with more than enough abilities to overcome your challenges.” - Nick Vujicic
 
I came across a mention of Nick Vujicic today and I remembered having read about this extraordinary person some time ago. Presently 30 years old Vujicic was born limbless in Australia in a Serbian immigrant family. He is now renowned for his work as an evangelist and motivational speaker. He also holds a degree in Financial Planning and Real Estate from Griffith University. He and his wife Kanae married in 2012 and have just shared the news of the birth of their son, Kiyoshi James.
 
Nick, who is mainly torso, still manages to play football and golf, he swims, and surfs, and has a normal life, enjoying what many of us have no inclination or willingness to try. He has a small foot on his left hip, which helps him balance and with which he can kick. He uses his one foot to type, write with a pen and pick things up between his toes. His father was a computer programmer and accountant and he taught his son how to type with his toe at just 6 years old. His mother invented a plastic device that enabled him to hold a pen and pencil.
 
Nevertheless it wasn’t easy. When he was born, his shocked father left the hospital room to vomit, while his distraught mother (herself a nurse) couldn’t get herself to hold him until he was four months old. Although his disability was a sporadic occurrence, an unexplained congenital malformation, due to unknown causes, his mother still blamed herself for it.  Despite the risk of bullying, his parents insisted Nick attend mainstream school. Nick, was teased and bullied, had an electric wheelchair for mobility, and a team of carers to help him. But understandably, he was deeply depressed and when he was eight years old he went to his mother crying and told her he wanted to kill himself. At ten he tried to drown himself, but fortunately, he did not succeed. Growing up, with the help of his family, friends and his faith, Nick managed to pull through to become an international symbol of triumph over adversity.
 
Some time ago I overheard a conversation on the train where two “normal” people were discussing someone with a “disability” and I was rather appalled by their assessment of his predicament. His physical “disability” was equated with a “mental deficiency” and his company was shunned because of this perceived physical and mental handicap. I was appalled by the insensitive, crass, prejudiced and short-sighted attitude that was based on ignorance.
 
The International Classification of Functioning (ICF) defines disability as “the outcome of the interaction between a person with an impairment and the environmental and attitudinal barriers he/she may face.” Personally I have always regarded someone with a disability as a “differently-abled” person. We all know the stories of blind people having much more acute senses of hearing and touch, we all know of people who have lost their arms or hands making a wonderful career as artists, handling the brush most ably with mouth or foot and producing stunning artworks.
 
I am humbled by people like Nick Vujicic. When I realise what can be achieved by people with severe physical handicaps, my own feeble efforts pale into insignificance although I am fit, able-bodied and healthy. The achievements of Helen Keller, Stephen Hawking, Christy Brown, John Nash, Jean-Dominique Bauby, Sudha Chandran and Nick Vujicic are towering monuments to enormous reserves of inner strength that resides in each and every one of us. How much we are capable of is revealed by these people who are differently abled, who have been empowered by their disability to achieve so much.
 
What better example of a different sort of ability than Stephen Hawking, who says: “It is a waste of time to be angry about my disability. One has to get on with life and I haven’t done badly. People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.” And this is how most people with a disability that I have met (and I have met with quite a few!) live with that disability. They get on with their lives and make the most of it, using their other (often super-abundant) abilities.
 
Whenever I discuss “therapeutic” abortions with people, a lively argument ensues. Most people find themselves in a bind when they consider the ethics of considering what constitutes an “acceptable” child and an “unacceptable” one. And yet, with some people the choice is easy: Any potential child will be accepted and given the ideal of unconditional love, whatever the disability or handicap it may carry. For these people, an abortion is simply not an option. Most others would prefer not to have that unconditional-love relationship with a certain subset of children. True enough, every person would prefer health over sickness, fully abled over partially abled, but the situation becomes extremely complex with what our definitions of “healthy” and “desirable” and “fully able” are.
 
Our world is enriched by people like Nick Vujicic and through his contribution to society, through his interaction with others, he makes the world a better place. La Rochefoucauld remarks that “It is a great ability to be able to conceal one’s ability.” I think that many “disabled” people do precisely that and live a balanced life. We the fully abled ones wish to flaunt our own ability so much, that instead we exhibit glaringly our own disabilities…

DAY FOR TOLERANCE 2011

“I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers” - Kahlil Gibran

Today we celebrate the International Day for Tolerance, which was created by Resolution 51/95, where the UN General Assembly invited Member States to observe the Day on November 16th each year. Activities are planned, which are directed towards educational institutions and the broader public. The day was created to provide an opportunity for everyone within the global community to rededicate their commitment to and responsibility in encouraging tolerance, respect, and cooperation among different cultures and people.

Tolerance is to deliberately allow to occur something of which one disapproves, such as social, ethnic, sexual, or religious practices. It means that we may not agree or like what we are allowing to happen, but we are willing to accept the differences between ourselves and others who are different from us. This attitude is especially important on the social level, allowing us to live our life free from racial and ethnic prejudice, embracing the willingness to live and let live non-judgmentally. Tolerance of course, does not refer to condoning illegal activities or allowing acts to occur that will physically harm individuals or psychologically damage them.

Tolerance is something that many people find hard to practise and even the most liberal and tolerant amongst us may occasionally catch ourselves lapsing into an attitude that reeks of some deep-seated prejudice that we may have long-battled to eradicate from within ourselves. Such is the nature of humans, the “us and them” mentality. This harks back to our caveman roots and the battle of survival where one had to stick together within one’s clan and protect the interests of the tribe, as this equated with survival. We have since become civilised but the caveman within still manages to overcome our refined, polished and über-socialised selves.

Religious intolerance is one of the prime causes of worldwide hostility. It is unfortunate that religious feeling, which deals with the higher spiritual matters is responsible for the blood-letting and the destruction that still occurs on a massive scale around the planet. Racism is another cause of widespread hatred and the pages of history are full of the blood stains of the various types of racial and ethnic cleansing that intolerance begets. And of course there are many other causes for intolerance, sexual, gender-based, social, political, intellectual and more…

On days like today we can reflect on how we can best create a society where there is a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from our own. Our differences make us stronger and more adaptable, better able to embroider fully and colourfully our social fabric. It is important for each of us to think about how we can use our differences as invitations rather than barriers. As the Day of Tolerance comes to a close, we should be able to think back and be satisfied that we have done something to open a channel of communication with someone from a culture or background other than our own. If we didn’t do anything today, what can we do tomorrow?

Tolerance is the foundation for mutual respect among people and communities, and is vital for building a single global society around shared values. It is a virtue and a quality, it is a way of life, it is a virtuous path, but above all, tolerance is an act – the act of reaching out to others and seeing differences not as barriers, but as invitations for dialogue and understanding.

WORLD AIDS DAY 2010

“I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot.” - Horace Greeley

It is World AIDS Day today so I hope you all wore your red ribbon on your lapel! The red ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness that is worn by people all year round but especially so around World AIDS Day to demonstrate care and concern about HIV and AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment.

The AIDS commemorative Day was started on 1st December 1988 and is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. This year the World AIDS Day theme is “Universal Access and Human Rights”. It is important to remember on this day that HIV has not disappeared, and that there are many things still to be done around the world, but more so in developing countries.

UNAIDS estimates that there are now 33.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009 some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS. Most of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower and middle-income countries.

The struggle for human rights is fundamental to combatting the global HIV and AIDS epidemic. Violations against human rights help the spread of HIV by putting marginalised groups (e.g. injecting drug users and sex workers), at a higher risk of HIV infection. By promoting individual human rights, new infections can be prevented and people who have HIV can live free from discrimination. World AIDS Day gives all of us (individuals, communities and political leaders) to take action and ensure that human rights are protected and global targets for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care are met.

As it is also Poetry Wednesday today, here is a poem about AIDS:

I Still
By Gene Valentine
July 2004

I still ...
miss you even if you don't miss me.
think of you even if you don't think of me.
wonder whether you were really my special friend or just
another man playing pretend?

I won't believe that it was a lie, that all the love,
passion, lust, tears,
laughter, & joy you gave me were untrue but where are you
now? I'm still here
waiting, wondering where you've been & do you still call
yourself my friend?

I still ...
question if you really cared when I became sick & if so,
why were we over so quick?
need you to hold me & tell me how you'll be there 'til
the end.
long to hear your voice again.

It's been 333 days & 999 pills. The virus is at bay now,
but like all enemies
I know that it's lurking in the shadows of my t-cells.
I wonder did this virus touch you too? & if so what will
you do?

Did the meds make you sick? Did you take as many pills as
I or was it 999x3?
I wonder did you sleep well or were you in my same hell?

I still ...
miss you even if you don't miss me.
think of you even if you don't think of me.
want you to be my friend even if you can't make love to me again.
I still... I still... I still...

MOVIE MONDAY - LUCKY MILES

“Refugees have done more for my heart and my spirit than I can ever express in words.” - Angelina Jolie

We watched an Australian film at the weekend and it was one which caused us to stop think, debate about, share our views about it and then discuss some more. I guess that’s good! Films that make you think and that generate debate and controversy are doing what any good piece of art is meant to do. It left me with a rather mixed set of feelings and also made me wonder what the intentions of the film-makers were. There was some mixed messaging in the film and the story could have been tightened up, with the poignancy of the film considerably enhanced. However, even as it was it was a good film.

The film in question was Michael James Rowland’s 2007 “Lucky Miles”. It was like a documentary in parts, art film-like in others, conventional in other parts. The themes were topical and the issues the film broached were quite important not only for Australia and Australians, but for many other countries around the world dealing with the problem of illegal immigrants. The director co-wrote the script with Helen Barnes and it was obvious they were inspired by news items and the boat-people issues that Australia confronts on a regular basis. As the introductory blurb says in the film: “This story was inspired by true events…” or words to that effect.

The plot concerns an Indonesian fishing boat manned by people smugglers, who abandon a group of Iraqi and Cambodian men on a remote part of the North Western Australian coast. The immigrants are told there is a bus-stop on the other side of the dunes, and this represents to all of them the much-desired gold at the end of the rainbow. What the abandoned men quickly find out, however, is that they are in inhospitable, searing and dry desert about the same size as Germany! Most of the illegal immigrants are quickly caught, but two men, an Iraqi and a Cambodian, reluctantly join forces to do battle with the forces of nature. In the meantime, providence decrees that the Indonesian boat sink and the crew be washed up on the same shore that they dumped their human cargo. An Indonesian sailor joins the Iraqi and the Cambodian and all three of them begin a (dis)united! journey, each to find his goal. Their confusion, misinformation, their mistrust of one another, poor knowledge of the local terrain and conditions, as well as their misguided hopes and desires make their journey more torture-wracked than they could have imagined. To make things worse, they are pursued by a fairly incompetent army reservist unit, which more by luck than design threatens to capture them…

The actors are well-chosen and do an admirable job with the script, and the locations, the direction and the cinematography are very good. The film is a little ambiguous in its message. It challenges the viewer with its premise and confronts with the humanity of the protagonists. It is almost as if each viewer is equipped with a button strapped to the armchair. “Press it and you will destroy these illegal immigrants, do not touch it and these people may survive…” Who is the victim and who is the executioner? Who is innocent and who is guilty? Who is the one who decides whether they will stay or be made to leave? It seems that the point of the movie is to make each viewer ask these questions of himself and try and answer them in a way that will leave one’s conscience at peace.

The subplot concerns the Cambodian man who has come to Australia to search for his Australian father, living in Perth. While he was stationed in Cambodia, the Australian left a Cambodian woman pregnant there, to return to Australia and never contact her again. The pathos of the young Cambodian searching for his Australian father, whom he has never met and who lives in the Paradise called Perth, is what provides the film with much of its punch.

The film touches on an important matter for Australia. Dependence of immigration for its continued growth and prosperity and the problem of illegal immigrants, many of whom are victims of unscrupulous people smugglers. Due to a perception that Australian immigration laws are weak, large numbers of would-be immigrants have paid, and are now paying, substantial sums to intermediaries who organise illegal entry into Australia. Many of these boatpeople originate from China, Afghanistan and Iraq. When they arrive within the Australian jurisdiction they commonly claim rights of entry as refugees.

They are provided with financial resources by the Australian taxpayer to pay the legal costs of arguing their cases - one estimate is that the cost of removing an illegal immigrant is, on average, approximately $60,000. Because the relevant government regulations are loose, and because the Federal Court has proved itself to be less reliable than the State Supreme Courts, many illegal immigrants have proved to be undeservedly successful before the Federal Court.

The number of unauthorised boat arrivals to Australia follows global trends. In 2001 and 2002, for example, Australia experienced a peak in the number of boat arrivals (more than 5,500 in 2001 and almost 3000 in 2002) as did most of the rest of the world. Then from 2003, global asylum numbers dropped as the level of global conflict dropped. However, over the last two years global asylum seeker numbers have increased again. When comparing 2008 figures with 2007, for example, asylum seeker numbers rose by 122% in Italy, 121% in Norway, 89% in the Netherlands, 70% in Turkey, 53% in Switzerland, 30% in Canada and 20% in France, according to a 2009 UNHCR report.

Yet in the same period, Australia saw only a 19% increase.
 Australia’s numbers are small in absolute terms as well. Australia may received around 1,800 asylum seekers by boat in 2009, but this is tiny compared to other countries. Italy alone received 36,000 boat arrivals in 2008. Most asylum seekers prefer to go to the United States (who received 49,000 asylum seekers in 2008), Canada (36,900), France (35,200), Italy (31,200) and the United Kingdom (30,500).
 The reason for large increases in the above-mentioned countries in 2008 is not because they have all “gone soft” on asylum seekers  It is largely because of the continuing or escalating violence in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Sri Lanka, to name but a few.

It is illogical and unfair to punish refugees and asylum seekers in the hope of deterring people smugglers. Numerous reports have shown that many asylum seekers are unaware of Australia’s domestic asylum policies, so the use of punitive policies has a negligible deterrent effect. 
A clear example of the failure of punitive policies to deter asylum seekers is the policy of Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs). The number of unauthorised boat arrivals to Australia continued to increase after the introduction of TPVs in 1999 (48% more asylum seekers arrived by boat in 2001 than in 1999). Boat arrivals only started decreasing in 2003 when global asylum numbers started dropping. The same rationale holds true for mandatory detention, introduced in 1992.

Refugees are often forced to flee tragic situations such as genocide or torture. Desperate people will continue to take desperate measures to seek safety. The only way to stop unauthorised boat arrivals into Australia is to cooperate regionally and internationally to resolve conflicts and to create durable solutions for refugees so that they do not have to undertake perilous journeys to find safety. Deterring and punishing people smugglers is also a better option than punishing the victims, who are the refugees…

DAY FOR TOLERANCE

“The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.” - Ralph W. Sockman

Today is the International Day for Tolerance. In 1996, the General Assembly of the United Nations invited its Member States to observe this Day for Tolerance every 16th November, with activities directed towards both educational establishments and the wider public. This action came after the United Nations celebrated 1995 as the Year for Tolerance as proclaimed by the Assembly in 1993, on the initiative of the General Conference of UNESCO. The 2005 World Summit Outcome document outlines the commitment of Heads of State and Government to advance human welfare, freedom and progress everywhere, as well as to encourage tolerance, respect, dialogue and cooperation among different cultures, civilisations and peoples.

Tolerance is defined as the ability or willingness to accept something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with. The various usages of this word promise, perhaps falsely, to reveal some hidden truth about what has become its most common use, that is, the freedom from racial and ethnic prejudice, the willingness to accept the differences between ourselves and our neighbors. In its other meanings, tolerance refers to (amongst other things) as a measure of physical space, most often narrow… This is perhaps a helpful reminder that tolerance (in the sense of open-mindedness) may require an amount of unusual endurance, and that it has something to do with how much room we have, with the space we are obliged to share with the neighbour whose differences we must learn to tolerate…

The day is an opportunity for everyone to learn about recognising and respecting the rights and beliefs of others and a time for reflection and debate on human rights. Tolerance means an appreciation of diversity and the ability to live and let others live. To do this we must have a fair and objective attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, religion, and nationality differ from our own. It is not just agreeing with each other, but more so showing respect for the essential humanity in every person, while acknowledging and respecting differences.

The day today enshrines a message for us to live together peacefully in a society where people can feel valued and respected, in communities where there is room for each to have their own ideas, thoughts, hopes, beliefs and dreams. Tolerance is a mark of civilisation and self-confidence. To tolerate others we must first accept ourselves and learn to live with our own shortcomings. If we acknowledge and accept our own weaknesses, our faults, our failings, our inherent imperfection, we can tolerate and accept other people’s.  Intolerance is rooted in ignorance, fear, small-mindedness, prejudice and is linked to an exaggerated sense of self-worth and pride. Intolerant people are not very pleasant to live with or to befriend. They regard all other “different” human beings as failed copies of themselves and they set out to destroy anything that doesn’t mirror their own faults and imperfections.

Events in one part of the world, however isolated, eventually affect the entire planet and each major local problem can become a global concern. More than economic and political alliances, tolerance creates a society in which people can feel valued and respected. Time and effort, with great commitment is required in building tolerance. Trust added to tolerance, achieves the kind of peace we all need. More than ever, tolerance is needed nowadays to make the world a better place to live in.

THE ELOQUENCE OF SILENCE

“Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today is Remembrance Day, with the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marking the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November 1918, to signal the end of World War One. It is a special day set aside to remember all the men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts around the globe. At one time the day was known as Armistice Day but was renamed Remembrance Day after the Second World War. Wreaths are laid beside war memorials by companies, clubs and societies. People may also leave small wooden crosses by the memorials in remembrance of a family member who died in war.

The “Last Post” is traditionally played to introduce the minute’s silence in Remembrance Day ceremonies. It is usually played on a bugle. (In military life, “The Last Post” marks the end of the day and the final farewell.) The sounding of “Reveille”, ends the minute’s silence, followed by the recitation of the “Ode of Remembrance” (“For the Fallen”) by Laurence Binyon (1869 - 1943).

The Fourth stanza of this ode is the most famous and reads:
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

Remembrance Day is also known as Poppy Day, because it is traditional to wear an artificial poppy. The link between Red Poppies and war is usually attributed to a Canadian physician and soldier, Lt. Col. John McCrae, through his famous poem about WW1, “In Flanders Field”; published in Punch Magazine in 1915. The obvious symbolic correlation between red poppy and blood spilt with loss of life on European battlefields, had already been noted by the end of the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the 19th century.

I would not describe myself as a redneck, as a nationalist, as an extremist or a fascist. I have always thought of myself as quite democratic, perhaps leaning towards the side of socialism and humanism. I feel that extreme acts of nationalistic pride are quite old-fashioned and out of place in the modern world, where national frontiers are being broken down and world populations are becoming increasingly mobile and have begun to mix freely. Extreme religiosity and fanaticism about religion is insulting and intolerant to the extreme and religion is the cause of much violence, pain and hardship. Most religious fanatics go against the basic tenets of their faith in their extremism; and that goes for any faith, whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or whatever else.

However, reading an article today in the newspaper I was quite annoyed and even angered. VicRoads, one of our Government Departments that looks after our roads admitted that they forbade their staff to observe the minute’s silence for Remembrance Day. The excuse they gave was that they “did not wish to offend people from different cultural backgrounds…” I have not heard a more offensive reason! What about the offence that such rubbish causes to the Australian population, whose young men died in their thousands in wars thousands of kilometers away over the past century or so?

If one migrates or visits this country, they do so bearing in mind that they are coming into a country where certain laws, by-laws, traditions, culture and language are in force. Most people come to Australia, precisely because of what this country has to offer in terms of safety, respect, lifestyle and an environment and where they can have freedom to retain their own culture, religion and language. However, if the lifestyle, customs, culture and language of this country offends them, then perhaps they have chosen the wrong country to come into. If someone is offended by having to hold their tongue for a minute as a mark of respect for the fallen of all wars around the world, there is something wrong.

Even if this is cause of distress or offence for anyone, then by all means let them take a sick day and stay at home and shout to their heart’s content on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month! You cannot please all people all of the time, so you try and please most of the people as long it is reasonable and fair and equitable to do so.

My workplace is multicultural. There are Australians, Italians, Greeks, Indians, Spaniards, South Americans, Germans, New Zealanders, Indonesians, Japanese, Serbs, Ethiopians, South Africans. We all observed the minute’s silence, most people wore a poppy on their lapel. We were silent and we paid tribute to our dead, even if they were on opposing sides in past wars. We lamented the wasted lives and the youth that were robbed of the contentment of old age, the joy of seeing their descendants carry their families on. We remembered irrespective of race, religion, politics or other persuasion. We shared our humanity that silent minute and reflected on the futility of war, all wars, all countries. I don’t think we offended anyone…